What Happened?

If you have applied for a patent, the pile of applications ahead of yours is unlikely to fall below 599,000 before 2031 unless fewer patent examiners quit. That is the finding of a Legis1 review of a report published Nov. 5 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), titled "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Patent Backlog Reduction Efforts Pose Risks to Examiner Retention and Examination Quality." ​

GAO found that the examiner attrition rate, the share of examiners who leave the job, rose from 2.9 percent in fiscal year 2020 to 7.6 percent in fiscal year 2025. The analysis holds even if examiners do more work.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reviews applications and decides whether an invention meets the legal tests for a patent. To cut the backlog, it has taken three steps:

  • More reviews: The USPTO is requiring examiners to review more applications.
  • Less training: The agency has decreased examiner training.
  • AI search tools: The USPTO has expanded artificial intelligence tools for patent searches.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

A patent generally lets an owner keep others from making, using or selling an invention for up to 20 years. Until an examiner rules, inventors and small companies cannot know what they own.

In recent years, applicants have waited more than 20 months for a first decision. The backlog of applications awaiting that first decision hit about 838,000 in January 2025 and stood at about 756,000 by August.

That is a drop of about 82,000 applications. It still leaves about 157,000 above the USPTO's goal. Waits for a final decision on patentability have grown by 11 percent since January 2025.

Both Sides, Now

The USPTO announced the under-599,000 goal in September 2025, without a time frame. GAO reports the agency is also seeking to hire more examiners.

The patent examiners' union and former agency officials told GAO the efforts "may not be sustainable" and could add to attrition. Stakeholders told GAO the AI tools are not yet effective because they do not reliably return useful search results.

One example of the training cut comes from Just The News, which reported that initial training for new examiners fell from 16 weeks to eight weeks in 2025. USPTO officials said in a March 2026 webinar that training was scheduled to last 10 weeks.

What Happens Next?

GAO made one recommendation: the USPTO's director should assess and address the risks that backlog reduction efforts pose to examiner retention and examination quality. GAO says doing so "could better position the USPTO to balance its efforts to reduce the backlog."

The recommendation remains open and carries no deadline. GAO says it will provide updated information once it confirms what actions the agency has taken.

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